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LUXURY CRUISING IN NEW MERCEDES CLS

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Mercedes-Benz CLS is a four-door coupe that has been a big seller in Australia almost since day one in 2003. At the time it created quite a sensation as it was argued by purists that a four-door car could not be called a coupe. The introduction of the stylish CLS resulted in a rethink of the definition, and we now have coupes with two, three, four or five doors. STYLING The third generation of the Mercedes-Benz four-door CLS Coupe pioneers a new design theme for the prestige car maker. It’s… Read more

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MORE HOT MODELS FROM NISSAN

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Last year, Nissan had a toe in the water exercise with its Nissan Navara N-Sport – and quickly sold out all 500. So it comes as no surprise has Australia Oz has introduced N-SPORT special editions of the 370Z sportscar, the X-Trail SUV, and the seven-seat Pathfinder. All three go on sale from August 1. NISSAN 370Z N-SPORT Fascinatingly, the Nissan 370Z N-SPORT is based on the Datsun 280ZX “Black Gold’ edition, which was designed to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Z, way back in 1980. It features exterior… Read more

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JAGUAR SS100

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1938 Jaguar SS100

Most people are aware that Jaguar Cars Limited started as a little company making sidecars in Blackpool. Founder of the Swallow Sidecar Company was William Walmsley, but it did not begin to expand until he was joined by a far-sighted and ambitious young car salesman, William Lyons, who built up a clientele for special two-seater bodies on Austin Seven chassis. The introduction of the SS1 at the 1931 Olympia Show was a turning point because, for the first time, the company became producers of a complete car. Admittedly the mechanical… Read more

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KOLEOS KICKS ON IN FIELD OF SAFETY

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When the tsunami of sports utility vehicles started hitting shores around the globe, Renault, in fear of being swamped by the fast expanding market, called on a partner to help fill the gap. The French automobile giant, already in an alliance with Nissan, was able to morph its Koleos crossover into a mid-size SUV using the Japanese company’s X-Trail as a base. Lucky for us, Australia was the first market to receive the new SUV, which was to become Renault’s best-selling vehicle Down Under. Now the MY18 Koleos has been… Read more

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FOCUS ON NEW FORD FOCUS

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The next generation Ford Focus won’t be on sale in Australia until November; but in the overheated Australian sales market it made sense for Ford Australia to release details early. The Ford Focus is made in Germany and will come here with a choice of three model grades at launch: Trend, ST-Line and Titanium. Body types are five-door hatch and station wagon. At launch, the all-new Focus will be powered only by a new-design 1.5-litre EcoBoost three-cylinder engine producing 134kW and 240Nm. It will be mated to an all-new eight-speed… Read more

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TOYOTA PRADO 2009 – 2017

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2016 Toyota Prado

Though it has ‘proper 4WD’ body-on-chassis construction the Toyota Prado is aimed at buyers who will do most of their driving on-road, but who do want to get serious at times in moderate to harsh off-road conditions. Prado has been sold in Australia since 1996, but in this feature we will start with the November 2009 introduction of the fourth-generation. Australia is an extremely important market for the Toyota Prado, ours being the second largest in the world in sales. So Prado’s chief engineer, Makoto Arimoto, came to Australia for… Read more

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MASERATI LEVANTE GTS TWIN-TURBO V8

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The Goodwood Festival of Speed has become a favourite location for premiering high-performance cars so it comes as no surprise that Italian sportscar maker Maserati chose it to introduce the Levante GTS, one of the world’s hottest SUVs. The Levante GTS Twin Turbo 3.8-litre V8 is based on that used in the flagship Maserati Quattroporte GTS but has been re-engineered to work with the Q4 Intelligent All-Wheel Drive System. The engine has been retuned to deliver 550hp (404 kW) at 6250 rpm, and 730 Nm of torque between 2500 and… Read more

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SUBARU FORESTER 2008 – 2017

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2016 Subaru Forester

By EWAN KENNEDY, Marque Motoring CAPTION: A. B. C. 2016 Subaru Forester BODY COPY Subaru is a quiet achiever in Australia, the Japanese company that has often been ahead of the pack in design. Its Forester is a classic example, decades before SUVs became king the hill in sales in Australia, Subaru was selling all-wheel-drive station wagons. Forester was launched here in 1997 as a relatively mild looking station wagon but later morphed into a medium SUV in styling. In this used car review we pick up Forester from February… Read more

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BMW 620d GRAN TURISMO

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We’re not sure is low-cost is the correct term to use to describe this latest BMW, but you can now buy a 6 Series Gran Turismo for under $100,000. The local importer has added the 620d Gran Turismo, at $99,900 to its lineup. That’s significantly down on the $123,500 of the BMW 630i which is the current lowest cost model. BMW 620d Gran Turismo is powered by a turbo-diesel 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine that generates 140kW and 400Nm. New 620d Gran Turismo comes in BMW’s Elegant Luxury Line, which includes a… Read more

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STUNNING NEW AUDI A8

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The all-new fourth-generation of the Audi A8 flagship is now on sale in Australia. It’s a large sedan – or should that be saloon? The German machine has handsome lines that give it a real presence on the road as evidenced by the number of people who looked it over while we drove it out of Sydney on the launch program. We use the word handsome as it has relatively conservative lines – as is the norm in any of the topline German prestige machines. No flashy lines because these… Read more